I was asked by an American friend, a retired colonel in the US Signal Corp to comment on the well-known communications problems encountered by the British 1st Para Division Signals Regt. at Arnhem. When I was with 200 Signal Squadron in Detmold we had a captain 2 i/c, name now long lost who was there as a signalman operating a Jeep-mounted No.22 Set when his troop sergeant repeatedly told the C.O. that the No. 19 set would be better, how he proved to be sadly correct.
I replied to my American friend as follows, would appreciate any comments.
Arnhem Radio Communications Problems. Breakdowns in radio communications in both airborne and ground formations were certainly nothing new. The 1st Airborne Divisional Signals had long noted the fragility of their system and had made numerous requests to the airborne hierarchy for more of the powerful Type 19 sets to be issued. Permission was refused on the basis that nobody had previously imagined that an airborne operation would take place within an area that exceeded five miles; well within the range of the Type 22 sets used throughout the Division. Both of these sets, however, were so heavy that they could only be carried by a Jeep, and so to have taken more Type 19 sets into battle would have required additional gliders, which, as had been all too demonstrated, were a rare commodity. Radio communications were a disaster as we now know.
One Royal Signals operator, Second Lieutenant L.R.D. (Len) Willmott, also the training officer at Denbury, equipped with a small and lightweight Special Operations Executive, (SOE) Paraset No.2 radio set maintained communications, albeit via CW, (Morse) throughout the Arnhem campaign. These Paraset were tried, tested and utilised by the Dutch SOE. Senior officers of the Royal Signals were aware of these advanced design radio sets yet failed to allocate them for communications between London and the main Arnhem units.

Also, the order not to use the Dutch national telephone system or the telephone network running alongside the vast canal system was very short-sighted as coded voice messages usually transmitted over the radio networks could have been employed using SLIDEX over the telephone system and would have provided an elementary communications method.

I seem to remember we had this drilled into us when I went to 11 Sigs at Lincoln.

Jock Kelly. Jock is progressing well and is likely to be moved out of the High Dependency Unit today. He is not yet avail on the mobile. The staff are pleased with how he is getting on, too early to think about sending him home...George

Gents
To help clear up the confusion of Bob passing, below is an email I sent to to Steve Wright in answer to a private email he sent me. I am posting this as it explains the issues raised by Mick Gue on face book.
"After spending over 1 hour on the phone with Moya I now know you are either Stupid in understanding their instructions or had other reasons for saying what you did say in your Monday email which was sent at 10.33am, some 57 mins after the cremation finished.
In line with the family wishes not I or anyone else posted anything on any site referring to Bobs passing prior to the cremation. Moya was quite clear as to the reasons why both she and Bob wanted to withhold the news ( I already knew of the problems) because of family problems. She was also quite clear that the news of Bobs passing could be passed to the Denbury Boys sites post the cremation. Your Email of Monday 10.33am did not say this but indicated “NO” news be posted. You were most likely pissed when you were given the instructions. Further Moya said the family in Brentford were to hold a “Reunion” for his army friends but this has now fallen through. I asked if we could hold some form of reunion to celebrate his life and friendship with us in our normal way and she said most certainly. I asked if we could help financially as she explained that she had had to pay for the funeral. At first she said no but I said it what we normally do and she gave her blessing.
I am amazed given your “Close” friendship with both Bob and Moya that you have not mentioned these gestures to her but there again you are a taker not a giver.
I will say again you had no reason to form a new group, you could had you not been stupid, posted on all the other sites the sad news at your chosen time of 1033am. "
I will give further details to a call for financial help for Moya.

Hi Clive, We SpecOps used the one time pad on exercise in Germany with radio and telephone, I dont know how secure it was, but I googled slidex, and the comment was, that it was broken by the Germans almost immediately. our troop Sgt at the time, Ossie Osbourne was wounded at Arnhem while sitting on a jeep, Great bloke.
Cheers JB

Jock Kelly has just informed me that he is being discharged today and should be home some time this afternoon.
...George

Jim you are a star fantastic response to a very upsetting episode concerning the sad news of bob. Everything you said was superb . And the truth has come out. Bob loved denbury days . And will get some pics on there from our vets ten tors team 2005 2010 and the conquest of snowdon 2013. The 2020. Vets team will honour bob and all denbury boys who are no longer with us . As for the infantile comments made to me by messenger by who ever he is were totally of a bullying nature . Cheers Jim your the only one who had ability to find out . That’s back to the cricket ps email me

We used SLIDEX in 1964/5 when with the engineers 11th INF. BRIGADE in Osnabruck seemed to work ok.

Hi All,

A happy New Year to all and pleased to read Jock Kelly is being looked after by the NHS and recovering well ? I met up with Tony Hargreaves and his wife Jean in Perth, Australia recently and both of them are well. We’re on our way to NZ shortly, but will be returning to Perth in mid February for a few more weeks prior to returning to the U.K. Hopefully, we’ll meet up with Tony & Jean on our return to Perth.

Gents.
Further to my last post. For those that would like to make a donation to help Moya with the cost of Bobs send off, donations can be made to the following account.
DENBURY BOYS REUNION ACCOUNT
Sort Code 30-98-97
Account Number 44274660.
For those who cannot use this method, cheques made payable to DENBURY BOYS REUNION can be sent to myself at
Earlsmere Limited
Unit 18 Valley Road
Station Road Industrial Estate
Barnsley, S73 0BS.
Bob was an extremely nice genuine guy who supported all the Denbury Boys events and calls. Hope if you can afford, you will donate whatever you can.
Chalky

Reunions Thankyou
This year marks the last Barnsley reunion.
From the very first official one in 2005 it has been well attended and thank all those that made it so.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank others that have given their time and effort over the years in arranging and hosting reunions that I personally have attended.
Steve Wright who organised the Iserlohn based on the ex Sgt mess hotel and later at the Peters hotel in Wingst Germany.
Mike Butcher for the NA and Taunton.
In particular the team ( Phil Kirk, Jim Humphries) and myself for the 2017 Racecourse (Not the Final Parade) event.
Winston Manning for the many Canada and Florida events and last but not least Bob Mackay for the Virginia USA get together.
All were most enjoyable and relaxing.
As we all get older and travel becomes more difficult there is always a time to say the end and for Barnsley this year is that time.
So again thank you all for your attendance and to those that gave their time in organising others to keep us all together.